14 partylist groups proclaimed

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), has proclaimed 14 partylist groups that have won at least one seat at the House of Representatives.

A total of 58 seats are at stake for the partylist groups. Comelec said that it would proclaim the rest of the winners on Monday.

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A partylist must get at least two percent of all the total votes cast in order to win one seat. Others may get more than one seat if the percentage of votes they get reaches four percent.

Changes in the list of winners may occur if several disqualified partylist groups, whose votes were being counted, failed to get a temporary restraining order or status quo ante order from the Supreme Court (SC).

Among the disqualified groups are Senior Citizens, which managed to obtain around 500,000 votes.

Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares made a motion to the NBOC during last week’s canvassing to have the votes for the disqualified partylist considered as stray votes.

He argued that these groups were disqualified twice, once by the Comelec, and the second time when the high court remanded their case to the Comelec with new guidelines.

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. however, said that the votes for the disqualified groups would be counted separately just in case they were granted a TRO or SQA.

If their appeal to the high tribunal is dismissed, or if they choose not to appeal, their votes will no longer be counted.

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